No UFC for Four Straight Weekends: Details on the Upcoming Holiday Hiatus
The UFC is going on holiday after the last event on December 12 and will only return on January 16, 2027, which means 4 weeks without a fight.
MMA fans need to brace themselves for a quiet winter because the Octagon is officially locking its doors for the end-of-year holidays. The UFC is locking up shop after its final event of the year, leaving die-hard fight fans facing a massive five-week stretch without a single live event.
The annual holiday break will commence immediately after UFC 335 on Dec. 12, 2026, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. From there, the promotion hits pause for four consecutive weekends before finally returning to action on Jan. 16, 2027, for a UFC Fight Night inside the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.
Surviving the Five-Week Fight Drought
For a promotion that churns out events nearly every single Saturday, a four-weekend drought feels like a lifetime. The final show of 2026, UFC 335, is expected to deliver enough violence to hold fans over, headlined by a showdown between former champion Charles Oliveira and Diego Lopes. But once the dust settles in Las Vegas, the Octagon stays dark through the rest of December and early January.
While fans might struggle to fill their Saturday nights, the hiatus serves a vital purpose for the promotion’s staff, production crews, and athletes. After running a relentless schedule across the globe, the end-of-year break gives fighters a chance to spend the holidays with their families and reset their training camps without rushing into short-notice bookings.
The pause also sets the stage for a massive start to 2027. When the UFC returns on Jan. 16 in Dallas, it kicks off what promises to be a stacked opening quarter. Beyond the Texas return, international travel packages are already rolling out for upcoming stops like UFC Sydney, proving the promotion will hit the ground running fast once the break concludes.
It might hurt to miss four straight weekends of cage fighting, but when the lights turn back on in January, the Octagon will be ready to roar all over again.
